


suchgreatheights.mp3

by whitachi



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 14:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitachi/pseuds/whitachi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rufus needs someone to bring him back from Junon. The beginning of an unusual friendship, and an unexpected product placement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	suchgreatheights.mp3

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in 2005, when iPods were an exciting novelty. The management apologizes for the advancement of time.

The sleek black sedan (outfitted with heavy offroad wheels for the laborious drive from Junon to Midgar) was to be expected. The driver of it, a long, lean man with a loose ponytail of silvery hair and an irritated expression whom Rufus knew only from his fame and from a few awkward formal meetings, was not. 

"What are you doing here?" Rufus asked as he tried to peer through the tinted windows of the car, looking for Tseng or a very small batallion of SOLDIER or whoever else would usually serve as his escort home. 

Sephiroth sighed and dipped his head in a small bow. "Your father has requested that I be your escort back to Midgar." He paused, and his lips twisted just slightly. "Mr. Vice-President." 

Of course, it would only be appropriate to have the legendary war hero escort the new Vice-President home to begin his duties. Perfectly logical. "...He didn't send a driver?" 

"Believe me, I am as thrilled about this as you are," Sephiroth said, and opened the passenger door. "Get in the car." 

Rufus tossed his suitcases into the trunk and slammed it a little harder than necessary. "I swear, he's getting cheaper with each year." He slid into cushy leather in the front seat and buckled his seat belt. 

"You think I'm getting paid extra for this?" Sephiroth snorted as he slipped into the driver's seat and buckled his own belt. 

"I rest my case," Rufus said, and couldn't help but give Sephiroth a quirked eyebrow and a half of a smile. It was the sort of thing that usually made people warm up to him; on Sephiroth, it seemed to mostly make him look vaguely perturbed. 

After roughly twenty minutes of silence and odd, stilted conversation, Rufus gave up on trying to find anything remotely decent in terms of radio stations. Between Midgar and Junon, it seemed, lay a wasteland in the airwaves only punctuated by news reports and banjos. As the car idled to let a flock of chocobo cross the road (Rufus made a note to himself that he would push the department of transportation to build _something_ akin to decent roads), he reached into the backseat for his satchel. 

"I have some CDs, if you wouldn't mind." 

"What of?" Sephiroth kept his eyes fixed on the flock, waiting to hit into reverse if one decided to take a blinker as a challenge. 

"Not quite sure." Rufus pulled out the small folder of CDs. "I had a lot of girls who were fond of making me mix CD to express their affections. I don't think I've listened to any of them." He fluttered them out at Sephiroth, who cast a small glance. "Worth a gamble." Sephiroth made a small noise of assent, and Rufus picked a random and inoffensively labeled CD to slip into the car's player. 

Three hours (and one harrowing fight with a giant snake) later, they'd settled into comfortable conversation about matters from the grafitti on Midgar's public transportation systems, the unfortunate fashion habits of some of his father's cabinet, and how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be to get the chocobo shit off the rear windshield. On the car's stereo, a woman wailed a lovesong and pounded on her piano. 

"This is the fourth time this song has come up," Sephiroth remarked, looking at the CD player as though it were a distressing lab experiment. 

"I know," Rufus said, and reached over to flip the volume down. "It's slightly disturbing." He flipped through the next few songs on the mix and found it entirely wanting. "God, useless." He hit the eject button and put the CD back into the case, and just barely resisted tossing the whole mess out of the window where a behemoth or somesuch could finally have the opportunity to really get into acoustic female vocalist folk rock. 

"Hang on," he said, and went into his satchel again to retrieve a small white rectangular object. He smirked just a little as Sephiroth's eyebrows went up at the sight of it; they were new on the market and quite the status object. Rufus, of course, was an early adopter. He put one of the headphone beads into his own ear, and then reached over to brush smooth strands of silver hair away from Sephiroth to put one in his. "I should have thought of this earlier." He tapped a few buttons on the front piece to start it playing 

"Oh," Sephiroth said, and smiled for perhaps the first time since they'd met. "I like this song." 

Rufus lifted his fingers to hold his half of the headphones close to his ear. "So do I." 


End file.
